Those of you who take offense when I have the temerity to suggest that successfully finding a replacement for a departing Mark Richt might not be the walk in the park many believe it will be ought to check this little tidbit out.

My problem isn’t that I disagree with the premise that Charlie Strong is a poor choice as the new head coach for Texas, although I certainly do. It’s a booster who manages to combine giving over $100 million dollars to the school with the fervent belief that Jon Gruden would have won five titles in 15 years that’s a problem. Good luck with that, Charlie.

It’s foolish to assume that Georgia would be immune to its own set of pressures in the face of a coaching change, whatever those might be. Or that there’s strong enough leadership at B-M to withstand them.

Charlie Strong is a stud. Look at his resume. If he doesn’t work out in Texas, so be it, but he would a solid hire for any program in the country. If we hypothetically had a coaching vacancy this year, I would be ecstatic to have C. Strong at UGA. This Red Rooster booster guy needs to explain himself.

While I think Strong is a fine coach, I was a little surprised by his selection precisely because of people like McCombs. I wonder if the new AD is trying to put his brand on the hire by tapping Strong, who reportedly isn’t a glad-hander like Brown and probably could care less about the LHN. Strong will have to win early and often to survive this bunch of alumni.

I really thought Briles made the most sense assuming the same alumni could admit the Baylor coach was worthy of the Longhorn job.

I’ve never understood this philosophy. It’s like saying “I hate my job but why change since I might wind up worse off”. How can anyone live life dreading what might happen? Your odds of hiring a successful coach increase substantially if (1) your AD is allowed to do his job, ie, no ridiculous search committee, (2) the amount your AD is allowed to pay the coach, and (3) the timing of when your need occurs relative to other team’s needs. Since you cannot control #3, let your AD spend his time on 1 and 2 and think big, not cheap!

It isnt like saying that at all. not even close. It is like saying I have a secure job that I am good at and can keep for the rest of my career, but I did see where anonymous internet commenter’s aunt is now making $89/hour on the internet. I think I will go do that. See ya, suckers and pissing on your boss’s desk before walking out with no notice.

“but I did see where anonymous internet commenter’s aunt is now making $89/hour on the internet.”

Wow. It isn’t anything like that. At all. What an obviously flawed analogy you just made so that you wouldn’t have to come up with a logical rebuttal to Jax’s comment.

For the record, I agree with most that it won’t be easy finding a coach who can match the sustained success that Richt has had, but I don’t think it’s as impossible as others make it seem either. I also don’t think it’s likely we end up anything like the dumpster fire Tennessee became after firing Fulmer. To be honest, I think both sides of this argument tend to overplay their hand.

I think you are correct, but I for one am willing to stick with Richt’s consistency in the belief that it will eventually lead us to the national championship so many deem the only real measure of success, rather than roll the dice on maybe getting the guy that wins the first or second year natty and firing him his third year if he doesn’t.

“the national championship so many deem the only real measure of success”

We haven’t made the final Top 25 three times in the past five years, and we’ve only cracked the top 5 once (the other year we were ranked 19, fwiw). Some fans, right or wrong, small sample size or not, want CMR gone for this reason, not because we haven’t won the MNC. We could go back and forth on this all night, and I realize those who say this are somehow forgetting about 2002 and 2007, but the point I’m trying to make is that the naysayers aren’t naysayers just because we haven’t won a MNC. They are naysayers because they think we have underachieved irregardless of the number of MNCs we may or may not have.

“To be honest, I think both sides of this argument tend to overplay their hand.”

I agree. Both of the prior comments are fine examples of that.

Comparing Richt to hating your job is saying he’s garbage and there’s really no upside whatsoever to keeping him. He does win (whether some people like it or not), but there’s flaws and we haven’t won a championship of any sort in years. We’ve made it to the SECCG a couple times in the past 3 years, but still no hardware since 2005. DawgPhan did a fine job of comparing that more to a secure job that you can keep for the rest of your career and be comfortable with.

The problem we have here is we don’t know what’s Richt’s fault and what’s the administrations fault. We already can see that having to adhere to the university policy on drugs puts us at a disadvantage. Are there other disadvantages that any coach we bring in would also be facing? Is there a chance some of these policies could be loosened up if the coach was stalwart enough in his pursuit of on-field results? I highly doubt anyone that comments on this site can know that with certainty.

There’s always going to be questions when it comes to a coaching hire because you see both sides of the coin at different universities. However, different universities are committed to football success differently and it’s hard to find apples-to-apples comparisons as the average fan. But then again, what would we talk about all offseason?

“The problem we have here is we don’t know what’s Richt’s fault and what’s the administrations fault”

Good point. I’ve always thought that Saban couldn’t match his success at Bama if he came to UGA and I assume this is true for several other coaches as well. However, I think this card is overplayed at times, too. ADGM isn’t the reason we never got off the bus in Nashville this year (bad calls and all, we still played like garbage), or Columbia, SC last year (the list could go on unfortunately).

I’m not saying the coaches are infalliable, but we see flat performances around the country. Almost all teams gets outplayed/outcoached/lacks motivation/whathaveyou about once a year too (Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, Auburn against LSU, Ohio St in both of their last games). I think it’s unreasonable to expect perfection week in and week out when playing in the grinder that is the SEC, so I’m willing to give a game a year a pass. Now, when that happens consistently like it’s seemed to happen at any big season opener we’ve had the past few years when we play anyone decent, there’s cause for concern. But there, again, we jump back to how much of this is because we’ll have key players suspended (as anyone in the league is well aware of) due to reasons more or less out of the coaches control vs poor preparation, poor motivating, poor gameplanning, or something that WOULD be on the coach.

I was obviously being silly. Commenters on this site (me included) have dreamed about what it would be like to have a different coach. Actually making the change is where the rub comes in. No school in recent memory has hired their first choice. Maybe Auburn last year, I don’t remember. Saban wasn’t even Bama’s first choice. It’s one thing to consider a coaching change and many of us take great pleasure in debating it, but unless we have to search for and hire someone new, I prefer just talking about it.

Don Leebern, Sonny/Swann Seiler, Bob Bishop, et al. All names associated with our athletic program that need to step down and let fresh perspectives have their day. Our program is weighed down by folks who have become too comfortable and cozy with being associated with the athletic board. We are desperate for new blood.

Fair enough. But let’s not forget the guy who got his nose busted by old Don had suffered from a traumatic brain injury from years earlier. I don’t think he was much of an opponent. I, however, am confident in my ability to bob and weave a little more. 🙂

With all due respect, it’s not. Maybe you don’t remember the last two hiring processes before Richt. Pretty, they weren’t. The issue for me isn’t that there won’t be worthy targets; it’s that Georgia won’t be able to get its act together in a way that hits a worthy target.

BTW, I disagree with you about Smart being the probable choice. He burned a lot of bridges with the way he handled the offer to become the DC.

I know he burned some bridges. I just think he’s the guy. Most of all, I don’t think that we’d get a head coach from somewhere else. Maybe, but not probable.

I’m with you that the processes weren’t pretty, and the candidates we got weren’t great. I mean, Glenn Mason, from Kansas…for real?

I will say that I think Bobo has a shot at it, too. I don’t think it will come to that. I’m with you that I think the process would be much more difficult than most imagine. UT got Strong (a good coach, but from Louisville.) The other candidates from UCLA and Baylor said ‘no thanks.’ Florida ended up with a coordinator. FSU ended up with an in-house coordinator. Clemson ended up with a guy named Dabo who was a position coach on the staff, but it’s worked out pretty well.

And I’m with you that it’d have to get really bad for me to want to go there. I just think when it does, it’s Smart or Bobo, for many reasons. We can’t afford for both of them to end up at other SEC schools winning championships. We gotta give one of our own a chance to become for us what Spurrier was at Florida — a bright young coach who bleeds the school colors.

Remember, UF did not hire Spurrier until he had head coaching experience. It did not hire him to replace Pell it hired him to replace Darden. Hiring a coordinator with no experience as a head coach is a risk. It worked with Dooley and Richt but the folks wanting change want immediate results better than Dooley’s and Richt’s. They would be livid with the results of rookie UGA alum Muschamp, who wad considered a great prospect in 2010.
Muschamp may mature into a fine head coach but the “fire Right” fans’ heads would explode before he got to the top of his learning curve.

And another question to ask is WHY is Kirby Smart the most qualified person for the job? What has he down that proves he would make a great HC at UGA? Because he went to UGA? Coach some good defenses (with Saban still having his hand in everything day to day) and recruit at the winningest program in college football? If I am McGarity, I aint hiring a coordinator until he has proved himself as a HC, sorry it’s too big of a job. Yes Dooley and Richt did it but the times have changed and it is much more difficult and competitive than in the past.

I would look for someone who has been an assistant under some great coaches, has a strong personality that shows in recruiting and in the South particular Georgia and Florida, has extensive network to hire coaches from, ideally has NFL experience and has run another program successfully. Gus was somewhat an anomaly and we’ll see how he does long-term but he’s off to a good start. He works as hard as anyone and has a great personality, and hired good coaches. Richt’s weakness has been he likely doesn’t focus on every aspect of the game in detail like other coaches (since the performance and numbers show), specifically recruiting and special teams and he has hired weak assistants outside of VG.

And then there was the press conference so Saban could bang GA in recruiting. Honestly, I think Saban saw UGA as a sinking ship and Kirby allowed himself to be the kill shot in recruiting that didn’t quite hit the mark.

Crap. I just hit upon one more reason why the ’12 SECCG hurts so much.

Well, part of that is because the AD wants a certain personality to be coach and that matters as much if not more that if the win. Jim Donnan lost 4 games a year and got canned because he was an a-hole. Richt has averaged 4 loses a year over the last 8 years but is safe b/c he fits the image he university wants. There are plenty of coaches that can win at UGA, but are there plenty that can win and also not make the people at BM uncomfortable.

Not sure of your math but I’ll also say that the four teams Donnan invariably lost to were UF, Auburn, Tenn and occasionally Tech. Richt hasn’t made that mistake and he’s averaged more wins than Donnan.

During CMR’s career at UGA (2001 – 2013) we rank 8th in winning % and 5th in total wins. Only LSU rates ahead of us in the SEC. (Records pulled from database at football.stassen.com. Pretty interesting site.)

But I’m sure the selective use of the past 8 years is important…I’m just missing it. Others may appreciate the full context.

They were both coordinators first…like Bobo…I hope and think and believe CMB will be a groomed and ready hire. Hopefully, by that time, Aaron Murray will be ready to take over the OC job in Athens. My hopes.

Honestly, as much as I’ve supported Bobo in the past, I’d be just as nervous of him as our head coach as I would have Smart, Muschamp, or any number of other coordinator candidates. Hopeful, but nervous.

When I hear commentators describe Texas as the “premier” job in college football, I always wonder if they have any idea about how political Texas is, with rich buttheads like McCombs thinking the alumni should run the operation. I don’t know if Strong is the right fit or not, but if I were him I would be hesitant to take that job just for that reason. That’s probably why people like Briles, Mora and others said thanks but no thanks. Texas fans rival Bama fans in the arrogance of thinking that their program is so great that they should have the best coaches in the world dying to apply for the job of head coach.

Good point, Texas got its fourth or fifth choice. Although, I think Strong is a good coach and this is a great hire for Texas. Living here though, Texas fans have an overinflated sense of their program. Yes, it has alot of money, but lets face it, it has become the Notre Dame of the south, rich in tradition but not that relevant anymore. It chased schools out of its conference with its Longhorn network and then got screwed when its little in-state sister A&M joined the sec. Guys like McCombs seriously thought they could get Saban or Harbaugh only to find that they were being turned down by guys like Briles and Mora. Its been a little funny to watch.

Red McCombs is a bottom feeder that picked up two ABA franchises and moved them to the NBA. One was the San Antonio Spurs who didn’t win a championship until AFTER McCombs sold the team. In fact, they were a shit ass franchise until after he sold them. He also bought the Vikings in 1998, the last time they were good and quickly led them to bed shitting status where they’ve pretty much been ever since. Not to mention he owned Clear Channel, which played the worst fucking music on earth, right Steve and Vicky?

So, just because you are a booster and just because you’ve owned a sports franchise, doesn’t mean you know shit about hiring, right Jerry Jones? ESPN shouldn’t be giving this asshole a platform to say this shit. If/when CMR leaves or is fired I hope we’d end up with a guy like Charlie Strong.

Was he so enamored with Mack because of his skin tone and Southern draw, is that it?

Of course a Caucasian can. However, when a Caucasian person says something so incredibly STUPID about an African -American as “Maybe Strong would be okay ad a coordinator ” this Caucasian wonders what other motive a presumably above averaged intelligent guy would have for such a stupid, condescending statement.

The only way for a coach to survive in any program is to win big forever. The problem is he may have to overcome politics, institutional tying of hands and various prejudices. Winning big in spite of these things is usually only temporary thus the big salaries. It is a take the money while you can sort of thing. Changing coaches is always a gamble. Only Bama appears to be willing to give the football coach control of everything that he wants to control.

Does UGA have any alums who have donated $100 million? That is a lot of money. It would hire a few recruiting coordinators for sure.
Orgeon has a big pocket doner…do you think he had a say in a replacement coach? What about Boone Pickens at OSU. Do you think he has any say.
People who donate hundreds of millions of dollars have expectations that the rest of us don’t. Mybe he shouldn’t have a say, but they might have deserved a call.

I just don’t understand why people can think its a bad hire. His defenses are hell to play against. He couldn’t recruit at Louisville like at UF. In 3 years I think he’ll have a damn good team down there again.

I don’t think he’s a bad coach. On the contrary, if it was just about coaching he’d have Texas in the top 10 every year once he gets his system in place.
The reason I think it might be a bad hire for Strong is that he won’t have 3 years to get it going. Hell, he’ll be lucky to get one. They already have a $100M donor saying he shouldn’t be there and it’s not even his first week. People out here in Texas have Bama-sized expectations with zero patience.

I think Charlie Strong recognizes what you said Russ but he has a 5 year contract at $5 Mil per year. He’s cashing in and who can blame him. If they don’t like him in Austin he gets $25 Mil as consolation. Plus, he just might win it all there immediately with the resources they have.

You think Charlie Strong does not understand the horrific pressure he will be under from a certain percentage of the fan/alumni base? I doubt very much he took this job with any illusions, and Mayor, I also doubt Strong took the job with the idea he’d be well-off if it does not work out…he’s a competitor, first and foremost, they all are.

Would agree that replacing CMR at this point would be major. Do not think money is the answer. Texas is financially stronger than UGA, but where did that get them in the past few years. Brown made poor decisions on coaches and failed to get a top flight QB. Look at the current NC champ.

I’m not sure how any Georgia fan could assume McGarrity would make the right hire if given the opportunity. Of all the ills faced by our football program, our AD being a boob and a patsy is, by far, the biggest issue. ADGM operates as if we’re in 2005, but so much has changed since then. To get a hot coach in, say, 2016, it would be a minimum of $4 million a year, and most likely closer to $5 million. Does anyone here think he’d open up the check book for that? I don’t.

FSU had almost become an after thought in the ACC lately. Doubt if anyone nationally or regionally thought those guys would go 14-0. Differences for men…their staff, their solid recruiting past 3 years, and a very good QB. Amazed how they put that offensive staff together.

Fisher did a super job. First he did not piss off the FSU alums who have adored Bowden, he adjusted in, started putting his pieces in place with staff, scheme, and players. FSU does not even come close to Texas in dollars. Their staff and coaches come across as guys who want to play and to excel.

Does CMR have the staff and roster. Maybe, but when you are ranked only 2 times out of the last 5 years that is not good and something is wrong. There are some players in this state. 2 out of 5. Well i write off those pre McGarity years and focus on the last 3….Murray years and TG years. Dawgs always look good on paper. Even next year. But do they have a QB?

Look at the final poll. Beat LSU and South Carolina. Lost to Vandy, Auburn, and Clemson on the road. Lost to Missouri at home during the injury / roster shift. There are some good stuff in 2013. Lost a top QB, but they did not have a boat load of guys up and leave for the pros. There is a core there now. CMR has to mve it in 2014.

I’m afraid that our offense is going to take a bigger step back in 2014 than most people realize. Our red zone O was pretty much non-existent against Nebraska. No way we settle for FOUR field goals with Murray under center. I’m not trying to knock Mason at all, but Murray was a special talent that may have had an even greater impact on the offense than we realize.

Totally agree that Murray will be hard to replace. However I don’t think the Gator Bowl is a fair measuring stick. Weather and field conditions sucked and Gurley was obviously affected. By contrast, look at the second half of the Tech game. I think our offense will be good minus the injuries from this year. Mason with a healthy Gurley, Mitchell and Marshall should still be formidable but the defense has to greatly improve.

I did not mean to throw vitriol at Mason or anyone else on the team that played in the Gator Bowl…my point was more positive Murray than negative Mason, although I can see why it would seem that way.

It is a measure of Murray’s brilliance that I, a person who would prefer the longest pass thrown by my team was the one to the tailback on the toss sweep, would not mind having Murray in the clutch…or the rain and mud.

Based on what I saw of Mason in crunch time in the Tech game, he should be fine.

What is the big deal about Gruden? he hasn’t coached in years and wasn’t he fired from his last coaching job? Besides, he is making plenty of money now and is much more secure and without out all the recruiting pressure and the off field problems of 99 teens and twenty somethings. If I had Gruden’s job I wouldn’t be a college HC if I won the damn job on a bet!

McGarrity should look for a new coach exactly one week after the UGA message boards fall silent. Until then, people still care enough to bitch. If they care, they’re going to buy tickets. If they’re buying tickets, the job is done.

I go back to Wally Butts & think Richt is the best HC the Dawgs have had in my lifetime (I was hoping for Pat Dye when Richt was hired}. However, After going 20 long years without an SEC title, Richt converted me in a hurry.
I do not expect the next HC to do as well. Time will tell.

It shows the directions we’ve been trending for almost a decade. Looking back in fondness in Richt’s first years isn’t going to change the fact that UGA had lost fewer than 4 games only once in the last 5 years. I simply think that finding a coach that loses no more than 4 games a year at a school with UGA’s resources isn’t the impossible task that some make it out to be. And I say that because that’s why our last coach, who was reviled, was fired for doing. But, to each his own.

Yep I agree with you, although UF and UT had great programs then with two historic coaches who won national titles. Same with GT with Ross and O’Leary. Richt has benefited from average coaches at GT, multiple coaching changes at Aub, a mess at UT and the last few years with Boom who is in over his head. But I agree, its not a valid comparison. But to me the problem is Richt since 08. Compare those 5 years and its a little different.

I don’t agree that the programs are markedly different under the two time periods. Tech was awesome before Donnan’s tenure, but had taken some steps back by Donnan’s tenure. And Richt hasn’t just succeeded against Tech, he’s owned them.

Auburn has had multiple coaching changes, but they’ve got two SEC championships and a MNC to go along with those new coaches. Most Auburn fans think more highly of the 2010-2013 Auburn teams than the 1997-2000 teams.

Yes, Richt has benefited from Corch leaving Florida. But don’t forget that Boom had a top 10 team last year and his only regular season loss was to UGA.

Now, Tennessee has definitely seen better days. However, the wheels have only really come off since Fulmer left in 2008. In the early part of Richt’s tenure, UT was still a formidable opponent.

The buzz to replace Richt seems ironic to me. Yes, the last 5 years haven’t been great. But that’s because of defense. Offense has been good to great during that time. So Richt ditched Martinez, courted the dream names for DC that our fan base was so sure would jump at the chance to live in Athens (Smart, Chavis, Foster), still ended up with a respected DC with NFL experience from the Saban coaching tree, and the results have been … mixed.

I think it’s fair to assume that a similar process, with similar results, would occur if we tried to upgrade our head coaching position.

The “leadership” at B-M ALREADY can’t withstand the pressures of the boosters (aka the athletic board). The athletic department is run by the athletic board, not the athletic director. The athletic director is their “yes” man. So the fear that this would become an issue during a coaching search is missing the point. It ALREADY is an issue.

Furthermore, the real problem is that the athletic board likes the way the athletic department has been run for a number of years now – very “economically” with minimal risk. Until there’s a change in attitude on the board, nothing else really matters.

The board of regents also comes into play when determining how the athletic department is run…but that’s a whole nother layer of complexity.

I would expect that a millionaire like McCombs would have more sense than to be one of the idjits who expect Bill Belichick to jump at the chance to be UT’s next head coach, with Sean Payton as OC and John Fox as DC. Just back up the Brinks truck and make it happen, right?

And then to stick his foot in his mouth further by suggesting that Strong was qualified only to be a position coach? Does this guy know anything about college football beyond banquet season?

Quote Of The Day

“But outside of that, the biggest advantage you can have is have good leadership, have a veteran football team, and when you’ve got that, it doesn’t matter whether you have spring practice or not. When you don’t have that, it’s tougher, when you don’t have leadership and you don’t have the experience at certain positions.”— Kirby Smart, Dawgs247, 3/31/20